GREAT ACCOUNTING AND AUDITING IDEAS ARE EPONYM-WORTHY

Eponym: Meaning and Purpose

According to Ferguson and Thomas (2014),[1] eponyms are a long-standing tradition of honoring a person who played a major role in the identification of something new such as a disease, and the thing identified or discovered is named after the person. Generally, it would include procedures, ideas, products, geographic explorations, etc which are given the names of the discoverers or innovators.

Literally all fields of professional study – psychology, engineering, medicine, to mention just few – have books of eponyms, like dictionaries, except accounting and auditing.? Psychology has over 800 eponyms that eulogize its great minds (Zusne).[2]? Engineers have their own eponyms (Auger, 1975).[3]? Medicine is rich with eponyms of “illnesses and procedures … named for their discoverers” that we are all now too familiar with, such Crohn's disease, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, etc (Delong, 2002).[4] Firkin and Whitworth (1996)[5] writing about the importance of eponyms in medicine said that “each entry tells the meaning of the eponym and provides bibliographic information about the person. … It is hoped that it will help nurses and medical students as well as practitioners, not only to inform them as to the usage of these terms but wherever possible to indicate briefly a little of the person whose name is used eponymously."? A recent research concluded ”that eponyms are widely used to?honor and immortalize these individuals, fostering devotion [enthusiasm?for a person or activity, not religious worship, emphasis mine] and respect in the community,” (Qasim, 2023).[6]?

Baretta (2019)[7] observed that “the systematic use of eponyms has resulted in one of the most effective reward systems in Western science. Moreover, it is interesting to note that eponyms do not represent a recent form of recognition; their genealogy can be traced back to classical antiquity, in particular to the Hellenistic era and as a feature of the scientific lexicon they have undergone surprisingly little change over more than two millennia. … During classical antiquity the use of eponyms served an important dual purpose, on the one hand paying tribute to those individuals who, by dint of their discoveries and written works, gained eminence in a specific field of enquiry, and on the other hand helping to map the historical geography of a discipline and thus establish its boundaries as well as its future prospects. During the Renaissance, with the rediscovery of the classics and the reaffirmation of the cultural value of science and technology, the coining of eponyms gained unprecedented momentum and proliferated in most disciplines.”

Ideas Are Inventions and Eponym Worthy

Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that only inventive engineering, physics, chemistry or medicine could generate innovation worthy of recognition.? Novel ideas are also innovation.? Ideas matter for our civilization.? Many of us wrongly think that modern society was built up with capital and stilted institutions.? But economists, historians and philosophers agree that the Great Enrichment “did not come from piling brick on brick, or bachelor’s degree on bachelor’s degree or bank balance on bank balance, but from piling idea on idea,” (McCloskey, 2016).[8] ?

Ummar and Saleem (2020)[9] contend that “originality and value are the basic factors which lead to the implementation of an idea as innovation.”?? From Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and Centre for Business History (2024)[10] we learn that “an innovation is an idea that has been successful.”? Cobban, P., Nair, R., & Painchaud, N. (2019),[11] weigh in to clarify that novel ideas and processes are also innovation: “to us, innovation doesn’t mean mere inventiveness. In our work we define it as “something different that creates value.” It isn’t just the purview of engineers and scientists, nor is it limited to new-product development. Processes can be innovated. Marketing approaches can too. Something different can be a big breakthrough, but it can also be an everyday improvement that makes the complicated a bit simpler or the expensive more affordable.”

Great ideas in accounting and auditing are as valuable as inventions in medicine and engineering and, therefore, eponym worthy.

Examples of Eponyms Still in Use Today

Here are some eponyms from selected professions.

·?????? Parkinson's disease (1817) for James Parkinson (Ferguson and Thomas, 2014)[12]

·?????? Hodgkin Lymphoma (1832) for Thomas Hodgkins

·?????? Graves' disease (1835) for Robert James Graves

·?????? Alzheimer's disease? (1910) for Alois Alzheimer

·?????? America is named after Italian Map maker, Amerigo Vespucci (Hill, Samkowski & Blackwood, 2019)[13]

·?????? Fahrenheit named after physicist Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit.

·?????? Diesel (fuel) is named after Rudolph Diesel.

·?????? Reaganomics named after US President Ronald Reagan

·?????? Benford's law named for physicist Frank Benford

·?????? Einstein’s theory of relativity named after Albert Einstein

·?????? James Webb Telescope name for “American public servant and administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the?Apollo?program 1961–68” (Logsdon, 2024).[14]

·?????? Elliott wave principle?named for American accountant?Ralph Nelson Elliott (Wikipedia, 2024).[15]

Elliott is the only accountant found with an eponym.? It is noteworthy that he was not working in accounting or auditing at the time but in finance on Wall Street.? If he was working in accounting, giving what we now know about the attitude of accountants and auditors, perhaps he would not have been eponymized.? Accountants and auditors lack self-praise and self-care.

What Ideas in accounting/auditing are worthy of eponyms?

Accounting has produced many productive ideas that have made a huge impact on the global economy but are not known to the public.? We need to make the transformational achievements by accountants and auditors – ideas, standards, procedures – more visible to the public and to prospective generations of posterity. Eponyms are instrumental in creating visibility for new ideas and products.

There are many other initiatives in accounting and auditing that are eponym worthy, if only we were paying attention.? We could learn from others in our secular culture.? For example, when the National Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting was established in 1985 it was quickly named after the Chairman, James C. Treadway, Jr., at the time an Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Paine Webber, and a former Commissioner of the U.S. SEC. He is a lawyer. The commission became popularly known as the Treadway Commission.? The Treadway Commission Report was influential.? But the accounting bodies that created the commission simply took the name COSO for Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of Treadway Commission.? Because we are accountants and auditors, no one thought of eponymizing COSO with any of the prominent names then available, even the name or two of the leaders of the organizations that formed COSO.

COSO has conferred immense benefits to capitalism since its inception, but no one recognizes that.? Among its epic ideas and accomplishments that are eponym worthy are the COSO control framework and COSO ERM.

While passing Public Law 107-204, (2002),[16] “an act to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws, and for other purposes,” the US Congress instantly eponymized it as Sarbanes-Oxley Act Act 2002. Both Paul Spyros Sarbanes and Michael Garver Oxley were lawyers, not accountants.? But when accountants and auditors created SOX governance and control review it turned out to be the most edifying and steadying influence on governance, control and audit in the history of capitalism.? Despite that profound role, no accountant or auditor was considered to eponymize SOX reviews.

According to researchers Wagner and Dittmar (2006),[17] “as SOX went into effect, more and more executives began to see the need for internal reforms; indeed, many were startled by the weaknesses and gaps that compliance reviews and assessments had exposed, such as lack of enforcement of existing policies, unnecessary complexity, clogged communications, and a feeble compliance culture.”? SOX beneficial impact is global.? It changed the attitude of a generation to internal controls and saved the markets from recursive crises.? For the profound benefits that it confers on the market, SOX is Nobel prize worthy.

In recent times we have seen such ideas as proffered by Richard Chambers and Dr. Rainer Lenz that have had transformational impact on the doxastic state of auditing and auditors.? Chambers (2017)[18] enunciated the wisdom of looking for beauty in the truth of assertions instead of in the auditee making the assertion.? That idea can prevent definitively audit failures.? He reminded us of beauty bias that misleads auditors into focusing on the falderals of auditees as evidence of truth.? Dr. Rainer Lenz (2022),[19] the Gardener of Governance, elucidated that internal audit nurtures governance like a gardener, a belief-shifting notion of audit that has become formative to the minds of contemporary auditors.

One can go on mentioning other profound ideas and developments in accounting and audit that have conferred great benefits on society, such as accounting and auditing standards and guidelines developed in critical times to respond to inflections in the markets and in our civilization.? Any of those could have been named after any of the many prominent accountants and auditors among us.

Why Accounting and Audit Need Eponyms

Eponyms “demonstrate one's effect on society and history,” (Qasim, 2023).[20] ?The symbolizing appreciation that they effectuate is galvanizing to society and to groups; the absence or denial of worthy appreciative praise can be dispiriting.? Eponyms are by nature instructive and formative, motivating ambition in the young.? The gratitude environment that it conduces through the bracing pageantry, conviviality and happy hubbub of conferring eponyms makes a society healthy.? According to Kline (2015),[21]? “the human mind thinks more vigorously and creatively in a context of appreciation.”? For its many benefits to society and the eponymous heroes, accounting and auditing should seriously consider eponymizing profound ideas and theories in the profession.? The grace and power of gratitude when heroes of a society and profession are duly honored for the legacy that they leave for us contribute to the creation of a healthy society by motivating prosocial behavior in the community.

Among the dictionaries of eponyms found, Trahiair (1994)[22] is the closest to the field of accounting because it “includes terms from a broad range of social sciences, including anthropology, economics, education, history, political science, religious studies, and sociology. ... Each begins with a brief definition of the term, followed by a discussion of the term's history and significance. The entry then provides biographical information for the person from whose name the entry was derived. A brief bibliography concludes each entry, … and a selected bibliography of works on eponyms.”? Yet it contains no specific accounting and audit eponyms.

Valderrama-Zurian, Melero-Fuentes, and Aleixandre-Benavent (2019)[23] tell us that eponyms “are a fundamental part of the language and historical culture of researchers, as many people have given their names to procedures, laws, formulas, tests, hypotheses, diseases and numerous processes.”

Given that eponym is a constitutive element of secular culture, “the symbols, language, beliefs, values, and artifacts that are part of any society,” it is unfathomable that accounting and audit do not have a book or record of eponyms eulogizing giants of our profession.? ??We are confident professionals, so diffidence could not be the reason.? Might it be humility, altruism, sobriety, ascetism, temperance, chastity or virtue, or self-abnegation.? Our profession has been too hard on itself.? In my training days in accounting, I thought that ascetism defined good auditors because the partners and managers were benevolent martinets who frowned at any semblance of self-care and self-praise, self-anything.? Focus on the client interest and the public interest were the overarching priorities.? Audit failure was an unthinkable outcome, a taboo to contemplate.? Every effort was made to deliver audit service with sanctity that ensures that society is not led to trust the untrustworthy.

The kind of ethics we were being imbued with is the type that Stocker (1976)[24] described thus: “modern ethical theories would prevent each of us from loving, caring for, and valuing oneself.”? Only “a habitual disposition to take care of others was construed as virtue,” (McCloskey, 2007).[25]?? So it is not surprising that over the generations accountants and auditors did not think of memorializing their discoveries and achievements with eponyms.? But Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury (1713)[26]?had an encouragingly different view of the matter thus: “the affection toward private or self-good, however selfish it may be esteemed, is in reality not only consistent with public good but in some measure contributing to it …”? McCloskey (2007)[27] more directly asserts the unreasonableness of self-abnegation when she wrote that in both selfishness and selflessness “the mistake is to ignore someone.”? Accountants and auditors ignore themselves in irrationally extreme selfless dedication to the conative pursuit of public interest.? Such self-denial does not serve the public interest in the end, because someone is ignored, the auditor and/or accountant, who is needed alive and strong to serve the public interest.? It is possible to be both selfless, and, responsibly, self-caring in public interest.? Responsible prosperity is possible; it is prosperity that is earned without exploiting the vulnerabilities of society.? Such prosperity for self-care is good for auditors and accountants.

Humans consider it normal for people who confer great benefits to humanity through their work to be recognized in some way.? My mentors did not explain to me why accounting would not do it for its members.? In my generation any attempt to say something good about you or your work was considered puffery and unethical.

Accounting and auditing should adopt eponyms, not because the tradition has become universally popular, but because it is right, inspiring and formative for posterity.

REFERENCES:

[1] Ferguson, R. P., & Thomas, D. (2014). Medical eponyms.?Journal of community hospital internal medicine perspectives,?4(3), 10.3402/jchimp.v4.25046. https://doi.org/10.3402/jchimp.v4.25046

[2] Zusne, L. (1987). Eponyms in psychology: A dictionary and biographical sourcebook. Greenwood Press.

[3] Auger, C. P. (1975). Engineering Eponyms: An Annotated Bibliography of Some Named Elements, Principles, and Machines in Mechanical Engineering (1st ed.). Library Association.

[4] Delong, M. F. (2002). Medical Acronyms, Eponyms & Abbreviations (4th ed.). Practice Mgmt Information Corp.

[5] Firkin, B. G., & Whitworth, J. A. (1996). Dictionary of medical eponyms. Parthenon Publishing.?

[6] Qasim, S. A. (2023). The power of eponyms: Exploring cultural and social factors in their adoption and popularization. Uruk for Humanities, 16(4), 2636–2647. https://www.iasj.net/iasj/article/297006

[7] Baretta, M. (2019). Names as Rewards The Ambiguous Role of Eponyms in the History of Science / M. Beretta. - In: NUNCIUS. - ISSN 0394-7394. - ELETTRONICO. - 34:2(2019), pp. 219-235. [10.1163/18253911-03402002]

[8] McCloskey, D. N. (2016). Bourgeois equality: How ideas, not capital or institutions, enriched the world. University of Chicago Press.

[9][9] Ummar, R., & Saleem, S. (2020). Thematic ideation: A superior supplementary concept in creativity and innovation. SAGE Open, 10(3), 215824402094742. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020947429

[10] Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and Centre for Business History. (2024). What constitutes an innovation? https://www.ericsson.com/en/about-us/history/products/other-products/what-constitutes-an-innovation

[11] Cobban, P., Nair, R., & Painchaud, N. (2019). Breaking down the barriers to innovation. Harvard Business Review.

[12] Ferguson, R. P., & Thomas, D. (2014). Medical eponyms.?Journal of community hospital internal medicine perspectives,?4(3), 10.3402/jchimp.v4.25046. https://doi.org/10.3402/jchimp.v4.25046

[13] Hill, C., Samkowski, A., & Blackwood, M. (2019, March 30). Examples of English eponyms: Top 10: Thewordpoint. The Word Point. https://thewordpoint.com/blog/10-examples-of-eponyms-in-the-english-language?

[14] Logsdon, J. M. (2024, June 7).?James Webb.?Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Edwin-Webb

[15] Wikipedia, W. (2024, June 3). List of eponymous laws. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_eponymous_laws

[16] Sarbanes Oxley Act (2002). govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-107publ204/html/PLAW-107publ204.htm

[17] Wagner, S., & Dittmar, L. (2006, April). The unexpected benefits of sarbanes-oxley. ? Harvard Business Review.?

[18] Chambers, R. (2017, July 10). For internal auditors, real beauty lies in the truth. Audit Beacon. https://www.richardchambers.com/for-internal-auditors-real-beauty-lies-in-the-truth/

[19] Lenz, R. and Jeppesen K.K. (2022), The Future of Internal Auditing: Gardener of Governance, EDPACS, 66:5, 1-21?https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07366981.2022.2036314

[20] Qasim, S. A. (2023). The power of eponyms: Exploring cultural and social factors in their adoption and popularization. Uruk for Humanities, 16(4), 2636–2647. https://www.iasj.net/iasj/article/297006

[21] Kline, N. (2015). More Time to think: The Power of Independent Thinking. Cassell.

[22] Trahair, R. C. (1994). From Aristotelian to Reaganomics: A dictionary of eponyms with biographies in the Social Sciences. Greenwood Press.

[23] Valderrama-Zurian, J. C., Melero-Fuentes, D., & Aleixandre-Benavent, R. (2019). Origin, characteristics, predominance and conceptual networks of eponyms in the Bibliometric literature. Journal of Informetrics, 13(1), 434–448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2019.02.001

[24] Stocker, M. (1976). The schizophrenia of modern ethical theories. Journal of Philosophy, 73(14), 453–466. https://doi.org/10.2307/2025782

[25] McCloskey, D. N. (2007). The bourgeois virtues: Ethics for an age of Commerce. University of Chicago Press?; University Presses Marketing distributor.

[26] Shaftesbury, A. A. C. of. (1713). Characteristics. Vol. 2.?

[27] McCloskey, D. N. (2007). The bourgeois virtues: Ethics for an age of Commerce. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press